Step 1: Measure out your space

First you'll need to measure out your space, as everyone's may be a little different. I didn't want my pantry being taller than the fridge and I wanted the pantry to be flush with the fixed wall on the side, so take that into account as well.

In my case I had 6 1/2" x 29" to play with so I purchased two pieces of 2x6x8 construction lumber (as the measured size is 1 1/2" x 5 1/2") and cut them into (2) 26" boards and (2) 66" boards. My fridge is about 5" taller than 5' (66") but that gives me room for my casters.

Step 2: Cut your pantry frame

I measure the distance from my hand saw blade to the edge of the base assembly. This will be your cut distance. Then I measure my actual size + my cut distance and set up a square and clamp it down for a straight cut.

Hi Nazih, thanks for the comment, several people have asked me the same question. I haven't experienced any issues but I think the heat generation really depends on the fridge. I purchased a new Samsung fridge to replace a 10+ year old fridge that had metal coils in the back. I know for a fact that my old fridge gave off quite a bit of heat as you could feel it when you walked by. I've checked the bottom and sides of the pantry at different times of the day, for the month or so it's been installed, so if there is heat generated in the back of this new fridge, it's so small it's un-noticeable. Everything seems to stay at a constant temperature, but I'll verify that with a thermometer just to make sure and follow up with an update. I did go through the owners manual and all it states about air circulation is having 2 inches of space from the top, back and sides. Nothing is mentioned about heat generation, but I'm sure if you didn't have at least that much space some heat may be transferred. I'm not saying this would be the same for everyone, you'll just have to take note.

Great job. I'll definitely be making mine soon just to hold the brooms and mops hiding in there. One question though. How balanced is the shelf? Do the casters make it stable enough not to fall over? I might incorporate something like drawer slides or something to hold it to the wall and make it alot sturdier.

Thanks brendrag! Empty, the shelf is very well balanced and stands on its own. As it sits now, the shelf is still fairly well balanced, but I'm sure adding additional items may make it want to tip over. I debated placing a rail of some kind on the side wall and may still eventually set something up made of wood, as drawer slides (greater than 24" of travel) were none too cheap. My thought was a single scrap piece of wood attached to the wall could act as a guide, and two pieces holding a dowel which would be threaded through that sidewall scrap, could rest along the top of the pantry. This would not only act as a guide to keep the pantry upright, but also act as a stopper to prevent it from being pulled out all the way.

My current set-up has two pieces of scrap wood, one on the top of the pantry and another against the wall, to act as a stopper, as I was worried I was going to pull the pantry out all the way and have a messy cleanup.

How so wastubbs? If you think about it, not paying attention or doing things too quickly can make any activity with power tools "risky". Granted I wasn't looking for an exact cut (which a table saw would have provided), I've used these type of notch cuts for years without issue. So making these cuts with a circular saw is just as safe as using any other power tool.

Another thing viewers at home should keep in mind when doing long cuts of plywood or other laminate with a circular saw, you can reduce tear-out first and foremost by using the proper saw blade.

Circular saws are commonly sold with either a framing or "ripping" blade with large, aggressive teeth. You can also get finishing or "crosscut" blade with much smaller teeth. I learned this the hard way when cutting up some expensive oak plywood only to have it tear out the whole length on my cross cuts. Gross.

Thanks wastubbs, that's a good tip. Generally speaking a blade in the 60 to 80-tooth range is great for cutting veneer plywood, laminates and other fragile woods. You also have to think about how old your blade is when having tear-out issues, as it will get worse with a dirty or dull blade. FYI, the dirty will come way before the dull. A good idea is to clean your blade if you start seeing tear-out before purchasing a new one.

It's an original SS, as far as I know. I haven't checked for matching numbers yet, but once I overhaul the engine that will be on the to-do list. Good eye, didn't think anyone would be able to guess the year.

Thanks bigidea13, a friend of mine took one look at the pantry and said I should have inset the top half of the front pantry (above the handle) a bit and built a small spice rack there. This way I wouldn't have to open the pantry each time I needed something. Something else to think about.

It's a good idea to have both the back and sides with some clearance but you shouldn't need more than a few inches (if that). Given that the pantry has about 1/2" clearance on each side and there is another inch clearance next to my cabinets on the left side of the fridge I should be good. This would probably become an issue if you created a fixed shelf right next to the fridge that didn't allow airflow.